Though the Summer is usually reserved for giant, megaplex movies that rake in enormous opening day box-office, every now and then a little film will take critics and audiences alike by surprise and give them something fresh. It is almost never a Horror movie. It’s not unheard of, sure, and there are a handful of examples of Summer Horror movies that do quite well – but it is a rare thing. In 2006, a modestly budgeted British Horror film sneaked into American theaters in early August. The film had been in release overseas for over a year in the UK and Europe, but took its time coming to the States. After its premiere at Sundance, the film made its way into theaters, and American audiences were taken unawares by the intensity of the film. It was a Horror movie that was about more than just a fight for survival; it was a movie that asked what it really is to survive. That movie was Neil Marshall’s THE DESCENT.
THE DESCENT is the story of 6 adventurous friends who are on vacation together. The group is led by Juno (Natalie Mendoza), who has arranged for the group to go spelunking in some local caves. The 6 women head inside and soon after, a rock slide blocks the way they came in. It is revealed that Juno, instead of leading them through well established, tourist caverns, has taken her friends to a cave system that has not yet been mapped. It becomes clear that they are on their own to find their way out. It becomes further clear that they are not as alone in the caverns as they thought. The caves are home to a strange, humanoid group of feral, cannibalistic creatures called Crawlers, and the 6 women will have to fight their way out as well.
Even before the Crawlers are introduced, THE DESCENT is a harrowing film. The fear sets in once the cave opening is blocked off. As our characters make their way through the caverns, the cast does a terrific job conveying the way unease gives way to accusation, despair, and paranoia as the situation becomes more and more real. The cast has a lot to work with; utilizing 21 wonderful cave sets designed by Simon Bowles, and the dank, oppressive photography of Sam McCurdy. You can almost feel the caves closing in on these women, and you fear for them in a very real-world way. In fact, the cast and crew capture the claustrophobic and labyrinthine cave system to such perfection that it feels as if the Crawlers are a bonus feature. Once the Crawlers come along, though, THE DESCENT becomes a most unusual thrill ride. It becomes a stalk-and-chase film in which the setting is so confined the predator and prey feel like they are right on top of each other. It is an exciting, tense, and frightening movie.
But THE DESCENT is much more than a kinetic Horror movie. It is a movie that takes a look at one of out most basic and primal instincts; survival. One of our 6 heroines is Sarah (Shauna Macdonald). A year before, she was in a horrible car accident that took the lives of her husband and small daughter, Jessica. Sarah is still haunted by the incident, and is distant from her friends. She only seems to come to herself once the danger is present and she shifts into survival mode. As Sarah fights to get out of the caves, we begin to realize that living through an incident is not at all the same thing as surviving it. She and her friends are fighting for survival on pure instinct; and even if any of them make it out, the damage is done. This is a movie that has the guts to ask if survival always worth the effort. Is it worth what we have to do to others, and indeed to ourselves?
THE DESCENT was a not a smash when it released, but it did a respectable business for a Horror movie released in the Summertime. Critics, however, were almost unanimous in their praise for the film. Roger Ebert gave it four stars; saying he’d been waiting for a Summer movie like it for years. The New York Times said that the film was “pleasurably nerve-jangling”. THE DESCENT ended up on several critics’ top ten lists for 2006, and it has gone on to enjoy an elevated status in the hearts of Horror fans, too. It is a masterfully crafted piece of Horror that takes a good, long look at how deep we will dig into ourselves to survive, even if we have lost everything worth surviving for.
THE DESCENT fun facts – The Crawlers were designed to resemble Count Orlok from “Nosferatu”.
In addition to enduring a three-plus hour makeup application, the actors playing the Crawlers had to shave off all their body hair.
Shaunna MacDonald is claustrophobic, so some of her panic while underground was genuine.
The first shot of a Crawler comes early in the film and only in silhouette. It was filmed without any of the actresses knowing it was there.
Juno - “See you down there.”
Beth – “I’m an English teacher! Not a fucking Tomb Raider!”
Juno - “It hasn’t got a name. It’s a new system. I wanted us all to discover it. No one’s ever been down here before. ”
Rebecca – “The noise she’s making, she’ll bring every one of those things down on her head.”